


Black Blood

by Callie_Girl



Series: Descendants and the Demon [3]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Not Canon Compliant, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2020-10-09 21:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 5,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20517032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callie_Girl/pseuds/Callie_Girl
Summary: Riah gasped, collapsing to his knees. Jay put down the apples he was juggling, racing to his friend's side."Riah? What's wrong?"Riah choked, shaking his head violently. "Someone got the sceptre. Maleficent's sceptre."





	1. 1

It had taken over a year for them to get to this point, but seeing the limo drive off to collect some kids from the Isle made it all worth it. Riah leaned against Ben, grinning. He'd pulled some strings, and now he would get to see his brother in just a half-hour.

Ben grabbed the microphone, and a hush fell over the crowd as he addressed Riah; "You know, it wasn't long ago that we met here. Things have sure changed a lot between now and then. And now, we get to be here to meet the next group. It seems that today couldn't get any more perfect. But I would still like to try." Riahs eyes widened as Ben dropped gracefully to one knee, pulling a small box out of his pocket. "Zachariah... will you marry me?"

Riahs hand flew to his mouth. It took him a few seconds to recover, and then he nodded vigorously.

"He said yes!" Ben cheered, getting back to his feet and pulling Riah into a hug. Riah laughed shakily, watching the sun glint on the dark blue sapphire that held the place of honour on the antique-looking platinum band. If he'd known this was going to happen, he would've gone to the Isle to tell Hades in person.

Hopefully, he'd get to visit soon...

"Look!" Someone screamed, pointing at the screen that showed the entrance to the Isle. Hades was preventing the dome from closing, ember clutched in one hand. Jay and Carlos ran forward only to be struck down. Mal took a deep breath, smoke enveloping her.

Then, she was in her dragon form.

Before she could get a breath out, Hades lashed out with the ember, a beam of blue magick connecting with Mals heart. 

"Okay, time to panic!" Fairy Godmother shouted, triggering the chaos that ensued.

Riah squeezed his eyes shut, casting a spell to share his strength with Mal. On the screen she seemed to rouse, blowing a gust of wind that sent Hades tumbling back inside of the barrier. Riah collapsed against Ben, breathing hard.

"Good job," Ben whispered, kissing the top of Riahs head. Riah nodded, leaning into Bens touch.

"If I fall asleep, wake me up when Hadie gets here."

Ben chuckled. 

"Riah. Riah. Riah, wake up."

Riah sighed, opening his eyes. The purple limo was driving up. Ben helped him to his feet as the car door opened. Celia, Dizzy, Freddie, the twins, and finally, Hadie stepped out, each one blinking in the sunlight and staring at the castle.

"Welcome," Ben called, grinning. "How was your journey?"

"Is that the school?!" Celia demanded, pointing at the castle and ignoring Bens question.

"Yep."

"But you won't be moving in there for a few days. You guys are going o Evie's place to give you time to adjust and learn the rules." Mal explained. "It's just a short walk away. Riah, Ben, and I will meet up with you guys later."

"Adam and Belle are calling us to advise them on what to do about Hades," Mal warned.

Oh, right.

"Look, guys, Hades is completely harmless. Except for his whole 'I used to be a God' complex, he's a regular guy." Honestly, they were acting like Hades was the bloody Horned King or something. To be honest, the guy cried if someone bought up the three-headed dog, who was still guarding Hell.

"Mal, what to you think?"

Mal frowned, biting her nail. "Hades is far from harmless. He killed five of my moms guys for no reason."

Riahs expression darkened. "Oh, he had a reason alright. You guys are smart, I'll leave you to deal with this."

Glowering, he strode across the room, to te window, and made his signature exit by jumping out.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Writer's block has hit me across the eyes with a lead pipe.

"Anthony is dead."

Riah sighed, looking at the window he'd just swung in from. "Nice to see you too. What got him?"

"Maddie did. Damn... poor Dizzy found the body. After two days." Hadie shook his head. "First time I've ever seen that old Tremaine lady cry."

"Anyone else?"

"Nope. But the Hooks also had a new kid. Tiny little thing. Wanted to sneak him across the barrier in my suitcase, but CJ said no."

Riah shrugged. "She has a point. You generally don't put babies in suitcases."

Hadie frowned, wrinkling his nose. "Really? I mean, Gaston numero dos put Gil in a suitcase and threw him down the stairs."

Riah snorted. "Yeah, well those kids could take an artillery shell to the nose and still live."

"D'ya think I'll be able to do that thing Dad used to do? Where he lights his head on fire?"

"Pretty sure. Just don't do it in front of the shiny people."

Hadie nodded, toying with a stretchy piece of string he'd gotten from his sock. "What're they like? The shiny people?"

"They're... they're kinda weird, not gonna lie. Like, the weirdest things upset them. Mal actually swore at one of them and the dude fainted." Riah snorted, climbing onto the table so that he could grab the chandelier. "They're also super uptight about manners and take personal offence to black coffee."

Hadie raised his bright blue eyebrows, watching Riah and the chandelier spin around slowly. "What's wrong with black coffee?"

"I don't even know. But if you don't put at least one stupid cube of sugar in it, you're dead to 'em. I've actually used it to make some of them leave me alone."

"Noted. Any non-VK allies?"

"My fiance, for one."

Hadie blinked. "Wait, he proposed?"

"Uh-huh."

"And you said yes?"

"Yup."

"Give me a second." Hadie got up and walked out of the room. Riah heard the sink in the kitchen turn on briefly, then Hadie came back with a glass of water, sat down, took a big gulp, and spit it out. "NO WAY!"

"I know, right?!"

"Oh my Gods!"

"Oh my Gods!"

"Wait, does he... like... know?"

"About the trans thing?"

"Yeah."

"Yep!"

Hadie grinned. "See, I told ya you were just being paranoid."

"Yeah, but you should've seen Audrey. She looked ready to cut a bitch with her manicure."

"Hold up, hold up! Who's Audrey? Spill the tea."

Riah grinned, repositioning so that he was hanging upside-down from the chandelier. "She's the girl Ben was dating before he started dating me."

"Wait, so, as she dating him when you spelled him?"

"Yeah... I should probably apologize to her... but she was such a bitch to us both before and after. Even sent her little minions after us."

Hadie shrugged, then frowned. "What's that smell?"

"Oh, Evie's got a cake for Jane's party." Riah grinned, dropping gracefully from the chandelier. "Let's go see if we can manage to steal any of it. I'll distract them, you snatch the cake?"

Hadie smirked. "Let's do this."


	3. 3

Someone had beat them to it. Both looked at each other, disappointed, and Mal smirked at them before going off to find the three girls, who'd vanished off to somewhere.

Riah watched Jay juggle a few apples, wondering if he could still manage to take a piece of cake. He wouldn't be going to Jane's party. It was supposed to be her day, and he found that if he went to parties all attention was instantly on him. He'd already told Jane and given her a present along with an apology.

Out of the blue, the spell around his lungs contracted, forcing his breath out and putting him on the floor, choking.

It thankfully only lasted a few seconds before his amulet adjusted, easing the curse. Riahs eyes flipped through colours as he took several deep breaths, his hand over his heart.

"What the fuck just happened?" Jay demanded, tossing the apples into the picnic basket.

And somehow, Riah just knew. "Someone got the sceptre. Maleficent's sceptre."

"That's not possible." Evie tried, her voice low and reassuring. "No one in Auradon would do that, and Maleficent is still a lizard. Maybe the curse just decided to act up?"

Riah finally looked up at her, his eyes settling on vivid emerald green. "Magick doesn't just do that, it needs a catalyst unless it's feral magick. And the only case of that is in the tunnels. No, someone has the sceptre."

"But who?" Oh yeah, because he would totally know.

Squeaky and Squirmy cam running inside, shouted, "It's Mal!" then ran back out.

Well, that just cleared everything right up, didn't it? Shit.

They all shared a look, then ran to the open door, Carlos grabbing a sword and the rest preparing to cast spells. Jay was the first one out, looking around for any threats.

Mal wasn't there.

The only person who was there was an ugly old lady in a rough travellers cloak.

Evie, ever polite, approached her. "Hello, ma'am, how did you get here?"

"Evie, it's me!" The old woman insisted, her voice like a rusty hinge. "Mal!"

Everyone froze and slowly stared at her for a few moments. "Mal?!"

"Audrey had the sceptre!"

"Told you someone got it." Riah sighed. Just perfect. He could catch a grand total of zero breaks.

The problem was that Maleficent's sceptre was one of the most powerful magick talismans left. It would take some serious magick to reverse the spell without it. It also meant that Audrey could probably kill Riah whenever she felt like it.

It also meant they had all but no ways to fight her.

Except...

"The ember," Riah whispered, eyes widening. "Of course!"

Jay huffed in irritation. "Anything you'd like to share with us peasants?"

"The ember of Hades. It's not elder magick but it's a God-tier weapon, like the Master Bolt or the triton. It should be able to grant the wielder the power to defeat Audrey if the right person has it."

"But who?" 

"It would have to be Hades blood. So that means Hadie or..." His eyes flicked over to Mal briefly, but he said nothing. "Well, just Hadie, I guess. Or Uma, maybe. Hercules. Nico Di Angelo."

Old Mal nodded. "So we get the ember."

"Not gonna be easy. The guy sleeps with it right next to him and keeps it in the pocket above his heart the rest of the time. Unless you can convince him to hand it over there's almost no chance you're getting it."

"Couldn't one of you get it from him?"

Hadie shook his head. "Doesn't even let me touch it. Maybe Riah?"

"I can't go to the Isle. Besides, I have a different task."

"Like what?"

"Like getting Fairy Godmothers wand. If Audrey has gotten this far then she's taken out Godmother, which means the spell on the wand is out. All I have to do is smash the shield emitter and it's mine. If you guys can't get the ember then maybe the wand will stand a chance." He raised one eyebrow. "Unless one of you lot wants to pull a Percy Jackson and steal the master bolt?"

A chorus of half-shouted "NO"s met his question, and he nodded. "So it' settled. You lot go back to the Isle, I'll go to the museum. Dizzy and the twins will stay here, where it's moderately safe."

The others nodded and started to walk to the garage. 

Oh, those poor fools. Off to steal the ember of Hades.

They'd have more luck trying to take the Masterbolt.


	4. 4

Riah barely spared a glance at the frozen Fairy Godmother. Unexpected but not surprising. He'd more expected a corpse.

What did hold to prediction, however, was that the magickal shield was down. So was the technological shield, which made him pause. Wasn't this a talisman that could easily shift the scales of good and evil? Why was it left unguarded?

More luck to him, he guessed.

The wand hummed when his hand closed around it, warmth spreading through him.

"I had a feeling you would come here."

Riah spun around, wand at the ready and curse on his lips. It took him a fewmoments to recognize the woman who deflected the spell so easily, but when he did he almost dropped the wand. "Audrey?!"

She smirked, "That's me."

Riah looked her up and down, taking a few careful steps to the side. Audrey mirrored him so that they moved in a circle. "I like the new look."

"The wand likes you."

"Well, I'm flattered." Almost to the exit. Keep her talking. If she was talking, she wasn't killing him.

"Did you put a love spell on it, too?"

Riah stopped moving. "Is THAT what this is about?! Zeus above, this is a new level of petty."

"Go big or go home. You of all people should understand that."

"Yeah, I guess, but I didn't put an entire kingdom to sleep. It's called impulse control."

"Oh, don't go acting like you're perfect. You would've destroyed Auradon if Ben hadn't talked yu out of it. And that's what interests me. You realize you have a better deal, you jump on that boat, no matter who's toes you step on. You do bad things to get what you want. You betray friends and family for comfort."

"Yeah, okay, fair. But I somehow always manage to end up on the good side, so it's worked out so far."

Audrey scoffed. "And how has that worked out for you so far?"

"Well, I'm alive, so there's that."

"Hm. You're surviving, not thriving. You're still the kid from the Isle, the victim, the charity case... I offer you a chance to change that." Seeing that he was interested, she continued, "Continue to live your half-life if you will, curse in your chest and more secrets than the Voynich. Or you can lower that wand and join me. You could change the world, or you could fight a losing battle against me. I can give you everything you want."

Riah stared at her for a few seconds. "You have no clue what I want."

"You want a new life. You want to show the world what you're truly capable of. You want respect, not pity. But most of all, you want your curse removed."

Okay, all in one. He lowered the wand warily. "Okay, I'll bite. But only if you remove the curse first."

Audrey frowned. "No deal."

"Then we can battle it out right now. You, with no magickal experience, versus me, who's had years of practice and is the son of two powerful magick users. Should be interesting. Or we can work together. Pretty sure we'd be able to combat anything Mal comes up with."

She glared at him as if he were nothing more than a mere annoyance, then groaned. She'd rather have him on her side than on theirs. "Fine."

She pointed the glowing tip of the sceptre at his chest, then frowned in concentration. For one awful second, the spell constricted. It occurred to him that she could kill him right now. Very, very easily.

Then, the pressure began to relieve. Green mist materialized around his chest, writhing in protest for a few moments before floating to the sceptre. The sceptre flashed blindingly.

Breathing became easier.

Both he and Audrey were silent, as if neither had expected it to work, then Audrey said, "There. I've paid your price, now you pledge your loyalty to me."

Riah stared at the sceptre, eyes narrowing. "Psyche."

Audrey moved faster than him, deflecting his curse and firing back with one of her own.

Instant night.


	5. 5

//Human.//

/Leave me alone./

//Human, this is important.//

/What could possibly be so important-/

//You have a concussion. And several broken bones.//

/Ugh. If that's the case, just let me die./

//The Audrey is growing more powerful. Your friends are in danger. Awaken.//

The Audrey? "Oh, shit!"

Riah sat up far too quickly and instantly regretted his decision as several broken ribs screamed in protest and his head roared. Cursing under his breath, he got to his feet, looking at the stone wall he'd been thrown through.

"Gee, I'm starting to think she doesn't like me," he drawled, even though there was no one there but the demon in his head, who wasn't paying attention. He rubbed away the black stuff that was dripping into his eyes (he would later realize it was his blood, but he had more pressing concerns-), checked that he still had the wand, and set off to find the others.

.

"Where on Earth have you been?" Mal shouted, glaring at him as he emerged through the trees.

"Sorry I'm late. I got thrown through a fucking stone wall," he snapped.

"There are a few things I should probably tell you-"

And then freaking UMA stepped out of the cottage, followed by Harry and Gil. Riah blinked a few times. Maybe his concussion was worse than he thought.

"They've joined our cause." Mal explained, "On the condition we let every kid who wants off of the Isle."

"Lucky for us we were gonna do that anyway." He turned on his heel so that he was facing the very unamused daughter of Ursula, "In my defence, you kidnapped my boyfriend while I was dying."

Uma scoffed, "You still upset about that?"

"Only if you're upset about my betrayal."

The two stared at each other for a few moments, then started laughing.

Mal cleared her throat, "If you two are done?"

Riah glared at her. "You get the ember?"

"As a matter of fact, I did."

Oh great, so he'd been thrown through a wall for no reason.

Uma grinned, then clapped once, "Okay, let's go fight this Audrey person!"

"And get all of the kids off of the Isle," Harry added, matching the sheer joy on Umas face.

Mal hesitated, then, in a strangled whisper, "Uma..."

"Yeah?"

She took a deep breath, looking her old friend dead in the eyes. "I lied... we're going to close the barrier... Forever."

Everyone stared at Mal, expressions of shock and betrayal on each face as her truth sank in. No more kids off of the Isle... no visiting their parents... eternal seperation... and Mal... Mal had lied-

Cecelia screamed, whether in grief or rage Riah couldn't tell, then ran. At first, he thought she was going to ram into Mal, but she missed the dragon princess by a hair, her hand dipping into Mals pocket...

And pulling the ember out of her pocket.

"Cecelia, no-"

Too late. Cecelia threw the ember into the bird fountain and sprinted off into the woods.

Mal sobbed, racing over and grabbing the ember, trying a useless incantation. When it didn't relight, she turned to Hadie with a pleading expression.

Hadie clenched his fists. "Why should I? If I can't have my father, then you can't have your toy. Fair trade."

He followed Uma and the two pirates into the woods after Cecelia, and Freddie soon went after them.

Riah forced out a laugh, eyes turning red with rage. "Oh, you've finally done it! You betrayed everyone who cared about you and left an entire population to suffer all in one swoop! I mean, wow! Well, it looks like you finally did it. You finally earned your full name," He glared at her, taking a step closer, "Good job, Maleficent."

He turned and stormed after the others. If life was going to keep sucker punching him then he was going to strike back, damn the consequences.

"Riah-"

Riah spun back to face her, his lip pulling over his teeth. "That's it. You've done it. You're the hero of your story... But every hero needs a villain, and I'll have plenty."

Then, without further explanation, he disappeared into the shadows. His course was clear; if Jane could take down the barrier on accident that he damn well could take it down on purpose. With one of the most powerful magick talismans, he could do whatever he wanted. He could show the world what he could do.

If Audrey was the queen, then he was a god. And he was going to make all those who'd wronged him suffer.


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In my defence, I've never written a duel before.

It was cold.

The wind whistled through the trees, rain poured down in buckets, soaking everything except for the source of the storm. Every piece of nature was at his command. For once in his life, Riah was in complete control.

And it felt /glorious./

He watched the clouds twist into a hurricane through the gaps in the leaves, grinning. Category three with ease. Everything was so much easier with a demon and a talisman. If you stopped caring about hurting people, you could do so much more-

He loved it. He loved how static cackled in the air and the wind sounded almost like screams, how the rain sounded, how the thunder roared and lightning flashed blindingly. He spread his arms, tilted his head up towards the sky, and then paused.

What was that?

Cecelia. He could hear Cecelia screaming. Screaming for help while Audrey laughed and shouted taunts, asking who would dare face her. Cocky, arrogant. Thought she was the most powerful thing ever. Yup, definitely hit all of the Maleficent bases. Not very plus-ultra of her, but very well then. He'd been planning to do it later, but he supposed he could change his schedule. If he couldn't kill the real Maleficent, he would kill the fake one. Only seemed fair to him.

He shot out of the trees, using his wings to get him to the topmost terrace at the school, when he could see Audrey, "Hey, Audrey!"

He landed heavily on the platform, wings folding into his back and the voice of the demon overlapping his own, "Picking on little girls? Not cool."

Audrey smirked at him, "I suppose the question is, what are you gonna do about it?"

Before she even finished the question he flicked his hand, sending a curse so quickly she only barely managed to shield herself. She glared at him, looking deeply offended, and he smiled.

And then she fired back, and the duel began.

This was the kind of magick Riah loved. No holds barred, full power. Where he didn't need to worry about hurting his opponent because he wanted to hurt them. He was safe to put his full power behind every spell. And his opponent did the same. Both drawing power from their darkest memories and emotions, using true dark magick.

And that was where he had the upper hand.

He barely even needed to think to deflect or redirect curses sent his way, forming his own with as much anger he could put behind them.

/Mal betrayed you./  
/Ben was probably in on it./  
/He'd done everything he could for them, including ripping a hole to the deepest pits of hell and summoning a demon that could've killed him with ease. And this was how they repaid him? Even the villains on the Isle kept their promises-/  
/This ended here and now./

He moved to offensive, flinging out curse after curse while she struggled to keep up. He drove her up against the stone railing, then grinned. "Muri catea."

She got her wits about her and met his curse with her own, colliding halfway. Riah met her slightly panicked gaze confidently, getting a surge of power from her fear and using it, pushing her own spell back towards her, taking steps towards her. Then, using everything he had, he drove her curse back at the sceptre.

The sceptre lit up like a nuke, blasting him with heat as intense as the surface of the sun. When it cleared, Audrey was gone. The sceptre laid shattered, the green stone that used to top it cracked and dull.

Cecelia stood up warily, taking a small step towards him. "Riah?"

He turned towards her, ignoring how she took a step back. "You'll see your father soon enough. Unless you choose to fight against me."

Then, he disappeared into the clouds.


	7. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not everything is as it seems.

Hadie paced back and forth so quickly he was almost running, expression grim as he thought. Riah had always been a bit short on common sense, but this was unbelievable! "What did he look like? After he killed the sceptre."

Cecelia shuddered, "His eyes were all black and it was like there was a web or something around them. It was fucked up."

Hadie swore under his breath. "it's taking full control over him, feeding off of his pain to fuel itself. It's basically got a nuclear power plant and you bet it's going to use it. We need to get Hades off of the Isle and we need to do it now, before it gains full power and opens a rift."

"It?" Mal frowned, "You mean the demon?"

Hadie paused, whirling to face them, "Is /that/ what he told you?!"

When he saw nothing but confusion, he groaned in frustration, "Guys, it's not a demon."

Mal huffed, "well then what is it, genius?"

"It's a shedim." Cecelia and Freddie looked at each other, horrified, but the rest just looked even more confused. Hadie threw his arms in the air, acting as if everyone should know what a shedim was and they were just being dense. "Okay, let me spell it out for you; we. Are. Fucked."

"What're we up against?"

Hadie glowered out the window, watching the hurricane outside. "Even Thantanos doesn't dare tread where the shedim walk. They're like nothing you've ever seen, and they've got power you can't imagine. You thought Riah was powerful? He's just starting out if we're comparing him to a shedim. The gods of old are gone and now a shedim walks the Earth in the body of an elder magick user... this is very, very bad."

"You make it sound like these are the worst things ever."

"Because they are."

"Then why hasn't this happened already? He's been possessed-ish by this thing for years."

Hadie glared directly at Mal, matching his fathers scowl perfectly. "Riah has the constitution of Lou fucking Gehrig. He gave it control."

Mal scoffed. "Why would he do that?"

"Hm, I wonder. It couldn't possibly be because someone he trusted lied to him, could it?" Freddie drawled, not so subtly pointing to Mal. "Cause that's another thing about Riah; he takes the extreme measures first."

"Gets it from dad," Hadie agreed.

"Yeah, like that time he killed five guys with a battle axe?"

Hadie scoffed, "No, that was completely justified-"

"Yeah, um," Mal interrupted, "No it wasn't."

Hadie looked extremely ready to argue, but Evie shut that argument down, "You guys keep talking about that whenever Riah comes up. Mind explaining to us peasants what you're talking about?"

Hadie glared at Mal one more time, then sighed. "In all honesty, I don't know everything that happened. I came home from school to five bodies and a fuck ton of blood, plus the axe was missing. So, of course, I loudly shouted 'what the fuck,' and I found out that they followed Riah home and basically broke into our house. Hades didn't let me see him for days, but he did end up calling Yen Side because they broke Riah's left hip and femur. Never healed properly, s'why he limps. Hades killing them was justified, because if he didn't get home when he did they probably would've killed Riah."

"Guys, we're getting off topic-"

"No, Mal should know this," Hadie stepped towards her, squaring his shoulders, "Don't put your mother on a pedestal and my dad in the trash. You know nothing about what your mother has done. At least dad didn't send five burly guys to beat the life out of a fucking twelve-year-old to send a message. But hey," he shrugged, "sending a message, just like what you've done. Put yourself on a pedestal like you're the only one who's right while others suffer. Just. Like. Your. Mother."

He shoved past her, grabbing the ember and striding to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Carlos shouted halfheartedly.

"I'm going to save my brother."

A thousand different alarms went off when Hades and his son appeared in the halls of Olympus, which was kind of fair, but Hades was too anxious to comment on it. Instead, he tapped his foot in irritation as the rest of the Gods thundered down the hallways before bursting in, most of them in their pyjamas and wielding weapons.

"Hades-"

"Shut the fuck up, Zeus. This is urgent," they wasted precious seconds waiting for everyone to listen. "A shedim has escaped hell," (which wouldn't've happened if Hades had still been there) "and is currently in Audradon using a powerful magick user as a vessel." 

"That's impossible!" Ares protested, "We all worked on keeping them down there!"

"Yeah, we did. But someone needed help fast so they summoned a demon. The shedim pretended to be a demon and now it has control. And if it manages to open a rift..."

Athena nodded grimly, "The apocalypse. It's begun."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imagine being Riah and fucking up so bad that you start the apocalypse.


	8. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't even have anything to say for myself. I am soooo sorry.

This really couldn't have waited a few more minutes?

Zachariah sighed as a warning bolt struck a mere few feet away and turned to the gods who had appeared behind him, glaring. "Couldn't have waited a few more minutes?"

"No," Poseidon snapped, trident pointed at Zachariah's heart.

Ah well, no reason to be a bad host. "Glas you're here, really. Now you have a front-row seat for the destruction of your world."

"Not if we have any say in it." Apollo nocked an arrow and pulled it back.

"You don't." The golden arrow flew, slicing through the air faster than light- Zachariah sighed and stopped it mid-air. "Please tell me you've got better than that. I was hoping for an actual challenge."

Ares charged with an angry roar, an ax raised above his head. Zachariah judo-flipped him into the way of Artemis' attack, peppering the war god with silver arrows. The trident sailed past his head and he spun, using a simple spell to redirect it so his movement sent it hurtling at Apollo, who ducked just in time to keep the weapon from taking his head off. An owl (really, Athena?) flew at his head. It was all too simple to just vanish and reappear behind Hades, leaving the owl to attack the still stunned Ares. Before Hades could even glance at him, Zachariah yanked his helm down to cover his eyes and kicked him hard enough to send him flying.

"Really? I expected more from you fools." He dodged a few razor-sharp arrows from Cupid and, with a well-placed kick, snapped his stupid bow in half. The trident came back around. Zachariah ducked again, and the glorified fork speared through one of Cupid's wings and pinned him to a tree. "Pathetic."

A stream of fire almost fried him.

Zachariah laughed, pointing to Hestia. "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!" He redirected the water from Poseidon's attack to envelop the fire goddess, trapping her in a sphere of it and muttering an incantation so that the water exploded, knocking Hestia out of the game. Dionysus, who had been standing too close, was sent flying.

The air snapped an cracked and his hair stood up. He turned to see Zeus chuck the Master Bolt-

Finally.

He raised a hand in the path of the deadly weapon. "That little trick-" The energy flooded his veins as he started to absorb it- "Doesn't work on me-" The weapon flew out of Zeus' hands and into his- "Anymore!"

He grinned and snapped his fingers-

And the shockwave leveled everything within a mile.

After a brief check to make sure the gods were down for the count, he turned back to his cauldron and continued brewing. The vessel had the right idea with his little spell, it just needed to be modified- a little more Ichor, the blood of an elder fae-

There was a click.

"Put that shit down."

Zachariah rolled his eyes but complied, turning slowly to see the son of Hades- Hadie, right?- pointing a crossbow right between his eyes. Really? He was almost disappointed. "You really think that's gonna work?"

"I know it will. Put your hands up and step away from the cauldron, or I swear to the gods-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." He humoured the boy.

"Now release your hold on my brother or I'll scatter your brains to the fucking Rockies."

Zachariah sighed. "You forget, I have access to this idiots memories. You cried over killing some ants. You don't have what it takes to kill your own brother."

"You really wanna test that theory?"

As amusing as this was, he really had to finish the spell. "Okay, buh-bye-" 

Hadie didn't even flinch.

The spell didn't work.

Zachariah frowned and cast it again. But instead of getting reduced to molecules, the boy just stood there, mocking him. "What on-"

"Yeah, sorry to burst your bubble, but that's not gonna work on me. Now, final warning. Release him or I'll make you."

Whatever. The kid had nothing to back up his claims. Zachariah turned back to his cauldron and continued the spell. Just one more ingredient...

Where was the Ichor?"

Hadie laughed, and Zachariah turned to see him holding the bottle. Oh, that little-

Hadie pulled the trigger.

* * *

Riah collapsed, eyes still wide with surprise. Hadie watched as the black drained out of them and dropped the crossbow. He had to do the spell now-

He grabbed the ember from his pocket. Hades was still down, it was up to him- 

"Ecce ad recreandum animam corpori reducam amissa restituo vitae. Qui ante me vi et virtute qui futuri invoco facultatem nature, ol adducere oi cadaveribus Pugnatur zacam de vita!"

Nothing happened.

"No no no no-" Hadie repeated the spell again, exactly like Hades had taught him, but it produced the same results. "No no no no no!" He repeated the spell again and again, gripping the ember so tightly his knuckles turned white. Nothing was happening- 

Nothing was happening!

Uma grabbed his shoulder. "Hadie..."

"No, it'll work!" He shook her off, ignoring the other VKs standing behind her. "It has to work!"

"It's not going to work," Jay whispered. "Hadie, he's-

"HE IS NOT DEAD!" He screamed, throwing the ember to the ground as hard as he could. He turned to Mal, who stood at the back of the pack. "This is all your fault!"

Mal scoffed. "My fault? It was your plan!"

"If you hadn't lied, whenever would've given over control! I hate you!" Jay grabbed him before he could lunge at the purple-haired girl. "This is all your fault! I hate you!

"While I totally support hating Mal, can you keep it down?" Everyone froze and turned back to Riah, who was laying on his back with his arm over his eyes. "My head hurts like hell."

For a second, nobody reacted."

"You're alive?" Hadie blinked a few times. "You're alive!"

"Well if I'm not, this is about to be pretty awkward."

Hadie squirmed out of Jay's hold and helped Riah to his feet. "Did the spell work? I thought it didn't work!"

"It didn't," Thantanos appeared behind them, smiling slightly. "But I bent the rules."

Hadie was just about to thank him when Riah gasped. "Oh shit!"

"What?"

He looked down at Hadie, eyes wide. "I killed Audrey!"


	9. Not an update

Hey guys, it's Callie. My computer broke down and I won't be able to post any new stuff until I get a new one, so everything is on hold. Sorry for the inconvenience.


End file.
